National Fish Passage Program

Increased freshwater focus on connectivity and fish passage:

• Watershed Connectivity Remediation Planning framework and barrier remediation in B.C.
• Chinook salmon research in Upper Yukon River
• American eel research and advocacy
• Fish passage advocacy and barrier campaigns
• Development of the Canadian Aquatic Barriers Database (CABD)

What is the conservation issue?

What we know:

• Structures like dams, culverts, and dykes block the movement of fish and other species
• Barriers to fish passage are extensive across Canada
• Barriers removal needed to restore access to important habitat
• Restoration projects are expensive

What is the conservation issue?

What we don’t know:

• How many barriers exist in Canada?
• How much habitat is not accessible?
• How do we identify the most important barriers to maximize benefits?

We need comprehensive information to answer these questions

Canadian Aquatic Barriers Database (CABD)

Project Background

• CABD = central pillar of tools to support CWF’s fish passage program
• Identify and prioritize barriers for restoration
• Inspired The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) work in the northeastern U.S.

A Roadmap for Improving Connectivity

• TNC’s Northeast Aquatic Connectivity Assessment Project:
  • A database as a partnership building tool
  • Brings groups together and centralizes efforts
  • Led to significant improvements to fish passage and connectivity

Penobscot River Restoration (Maine)

• Partnership between government, Indigenous groups, NGOs, and industry
• Two dam removals and one fishway
• 2018: 2.8 million+ river herring returned

Importance of Collaboration and Engagement

• Potential uses of CABD extend beyond CWF’s needs
  • Freshwater connectivity research
  • Hydrological modelling
  • Infrastructure inventories
• CABD can improve collaboration and partnership
• Launched external engagement to get input on design

Stakeholder Engagement

• User interviews
  • What type of work could the CABD support?
  • What information would be useful?
  • How would users like to access the data?
• Working Group and Technical Advisory Committee

Data Gathering and Sharing

• CABD relies on existing repositories
  • Local in scale
  • Single barrier types
  • No standardization
• CWF provides national coordination without duplicating effort
• Establish reciprocal relationships
  • Share data back to providers

What will the CABD be used for?

1. Habitat status assessments and reporting (watershed → national scales)
2. Informing management and regulatory decisions
3. Restoration planning and prioritization
4. Research and monitoring
5. Education and public outreach

CABD Components

1. Streams, rivers,

and lakes

2. Barrier data

3. Web map and tools

Public Launch (version 1)

• Public “sneak peek” release in pilot regions: early November
• Initial release:
  • Dams, waterfalls, fishways
  • Stream and river networks
• Release remaining data through summer 2022
• Add additional barrier types in future years (e.g., stream crossings)

Current Contents

Dams Waterfalls Fishways

25,000+ 10,000+ 400+

Demo!

Next Steps

• Continue information gathering
  • Phase 1: Compile existing datasets (including stream-crossings)
  • Phase 2: Begin to fill data gaps (with input from citizen scientists!)
• Expand features in the web tool

Watershed Connectivity Remediation Planning framework

• Collaborative framework to plan barrier restoration developed and piloted in B.C.
• Partnership with Alberta Environment and Parks to apply in AB
• Guide document for connectivity planning in Canada
• CABD has and will support watershed-scale planning work

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

• DFO must provide status report on fish and fish habitat in Canada (under new Fisheries Act)
  • Connectivity and fish passage is a key component
• What is the state of fish habitat connectivity in Canada?
  • Can’t currently answer that question
  • DFO has recognized CABD as critical data source to assess connectivity
• CWF can help centralize, coordinate, and modernize reporting

Natural Resources Canada

• Canada does not have a clean and connected GIS layer representing streams, rivers, and lakes
• CABD requires this layer to relate barriers to habitat gains
• CWF leading development of tools to update the National Hydro Network (NHN)
• Collaboration with NRCan → our work will be shared to improve the quality of the NHN

Environment and Climate Change Canada

• Connectivity Working Group (Pathway to Canada Target 1)
• Hosted ‘Advancing Approaches for Assessing Freshwater Connectivity in Canada’ workshop (December 2019)
• CWF contributing to:
  • Implementing Ecological Connectivity in Canada recommendations report
  • Freshwater Connectivity Indicator for Protected Areas in Canada (including CABD data)

Global Dam Watch

• International research collaborative developing comprehensive and curated dam and barrier datasets
• Similar mission to the CABD, at global scale
• CWF = member and regional data provider
• Co-authorship of paper accepted to Environmental Research: Infrastructure and Sustainability

Additional Tools

• Barrier assessment protocols
  • Series of regional workshops in winter/spring 2022

Additional Tools

Develop or adapt citizen science apps

• Partner and public participation to identify and assess barriers:
  1. Information entry portal - allow direct additions to CABD
  2. Mobile app - public can identify and assess barriers
• Collaboration opportunities with existing apps
  • AMBER (Europe)
  • Alberta Watercourse Crossing Inventory app

Long-term Funding, Hosting, and Management

• Current funding from DFO and RBC Foundation through 2022-23
• Development and data compilation are most expensive phases
• Long-term maintenance and updating = major challenge for databases
  • But, lower annual costs
• Future funding options:
  • Perpetual fundraising?
  • CWF endowment?
  • Hand off to government?